Donyell Marshall Named Assistant Coach for GW Men's Basketball

NBA Veteran and Former UConn Star Joins Karl Hobbs' Staff

July 1, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC -- Donyell Marshall has been hired as an assistant coach for men's basketball at The George Washington University, head coach Karl Hobbs has announced. Marshall replaces former GW Assistant Coach Brian Ellerbe, who resigned to take a similar position at DePaul.

Marshall comes to GW after spending much of the past year as a pre-game and post-game analyst for the Philadelphia 76ers on Comcast SportsNet. He retired from a 15-year career in the NBA in the summer of 2009.

Marshall, the fourth pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, played for eight teams during his tenure in the NBA: Minnesota, Golden State, Utah, Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle and, most recently, Philadelphia.

A native of Reading, PA, Marshall played three seasons for the University of Connecticut teams on which Hobbs was an assistant coach. Marshall still holds the school's single-season records for points (855), field goals made (307) and free throws made (200). While at UConn, Marshall was a 1994 consensus All-America First Team selection and the Big East Conference Player of the Year for 1993-94. He was also a member of the `94 UConn team that defeated GW in a NCAA Tournament second-round game at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. As a testament to his commitment to the betterment of student-athletes, Marshall made a $100,000 contribution to his alma mater in 1996. Marshall's generous donation, to be applied toward a men's basketball scholarship, was matched by UConn which now bestows the annual Donyell Marshall scholarship.

"We're very fortunate to get a guy of Donyell's experience and name recognition," Hobbs said. "Because we have a young team, it couldn't come at a better time to bring on someone with his basketball knowledge and someone who has mentored young players in the NBA to help develop our team. His relationship with the AAU programs and AAU coaches, along with his tireless work ethic, will be an asset to us in recruiting."

"Coaching is something that I've been wanting to do for a while and when I became aware of this opening, I felt it was a good situation," Marshall said. "Having known coach Hobbs since our days at UConn, he helped me get into the NBA. I felt I owed it to him to try to help his program get better. I bring several years of first-hand experience at both the collegiate and professional levels that I can pass along to these players and help them get to the next level. I followed GW when they made their run to No. 6 in the country [in 2006] and I'm going to try to help us get back to that."